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Review: Odd Society Spirits (East Van Vodka)

Odd Society Spirits is a small-batch craft distillery located on Powell Street in East Vancouver’s port district. They are about experimentation and embracing change while celebrating the ‘collective and individual oddities’ of their Founder and Distiller, Gordon Glanz. The Odd Society is dedicated to melding Old World distilling traditions with New World ingenuity (and ingredients) to build a portfolio of spirits which includes whiskey, vodka, and gin.

When I asked Gordon about Odd Society he said,

“We are a “craft” distillery. Under BC regulations that means all alcohol must be produced from BC agricultural products. Unfortunately, this also means that we cannot make a rum without losing the craft designation, which comes with some big tax breaks and other advantages. We have started with a vodka and then a creme de cassis. We have started putting away whisky for aging.”

Odd Society’s East Van Vodka is produced solely from malted barley grown in Prince George, and malted in Armstrong, BC. The spirit is twice distilled upon German-made copper pot stills, after which it distilled once more on a 15 foot vodka column still. Then the vodka is charcoal filtered and blended with purified Vancouver tap water.

According to Gordon, East Van Vodka is not meant to be a totally neutral spirit. It is meant to be lightly fragrant, and incredibly smooth. As Gordon says, “Consider it a single malt vodka.”

You may learn more about Odd Society Spirits, and read my review of their ‘single malt vodka‘ by clicking on the following excerpt (link).

Note: The distillery has began to lay down Single Malt Whisky for aging. For their whisky, the last distillation with the 15 foot column still is eliminated. Hence they produce their Malt distillate in much the same manner, twice distilled on a copper pot still, as traditional Scottish distillers. Because their Vodka is produced from the same spirit as their Whisky will be (just once more distilled), an examination of the Vodka gives us a glimpse into the character of their future single malt whisky.